If I had to take a guess I'd say your dog probably isn't getting completely dry after those baths. Do you have a doggy dryer to use? If not, I'd recommend getting one. Not only will it ensure that the dog gets dry after a bath but it's also AWESOME for blowing out coat. :P You can get one for around $100-$130 on Wholesale Pet Supplies, Dog Grooming | PetEdge.com

Thank you for the responses. My concern is not really after he bathes, because I towel him off as best as I can and take him for a nice active walk before we go back inside. I'm talking about like a week after his last bath. I grewe up an island and dogs were outside dwellers. Now that I have my own animals, I like to keep them inside. Maybe I'm being a bit neurotic, but I don't want to smell my dog when he comes into the room. Not that he is really stinky or anything, he just starts to smell like a dog again after a week. If that is something that everyone just lives with then fine, but I'm just wondering if there WAS a way around it.

As I sit and look at him, I think not. If I didn't bathe for a few days you would certainly SMELL me when I walked into a room, so maybe I should accept that. Especially with all the hair/fur he has.

Well there is a slight difference in us and dogs, we smell because of sweat. Dogs don't sweat through their skin, their sweat glands are on their paw pads and they regulate temperature (The reason we sweat) by panting. Though even if you towel him off well, he could still have moisture under his coat that is building up between each bath and causing bacteria and yeast to grow therefore causing the doggy smell.

As for bathing your dog regularly, I don't blame you. Sweating or not, I don't like a dirty dog and after my dog has been running around with her friends and rolling in the dirt or swimming in a pond or whatever, she is no doubt dirty. My dogs get bathed every 1-2 weeks for this reason. My dogs don't have a dog smell to them though, even if I did (and have due to situations where I couldn't bathe them) go for much much longer between baths they still don't smell. I really think you've probably got an issue with him not getting dry enough. I also wipe Gretchen down with a baby wipe a lot, she has a bad habit of rolling in stinky stuff and getting into the fish carcasses after fishing trips. x.x

Perhaps you could try some of those sprays that make the dogs smell "nice"??
Persoanlly I think they are horrible, I'd rather smell dog than "coconut" LOL but hey some people like it, that's why the groomers use it

Healthy dogs should not smell (unless they frequently swim in lakes or rivers). That doggy odor is probably an overgrowth of yeast or fungus on the skin. The most common cause is food allergies but other things are possible. Not too many vets are knowledgeable about this and most will recommend medicated baths (which only work for a matter of days). Good luck finding a vet that will work with you.

In my experience it don't matter how many times you wash your dog the common dog smell will always come back after a day or two. Sometimes even the same day. Its a natural smell for them and nothing you can do about it atleast I don't think so. We bath our dogs like once a month unless they were out playing in the rain and snow then straight to the bath.

We bathe ours 1x-2x a year, usually once, unless something happens and he gets really dirty.
Some dogs are greasier than others (labs and hounds spring to mind), GSDs are low maintenance, in that department though.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the German Shepherd Dog Forums forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.